Rebecca De Mornay
Rebecca De Mornay (born August 29, 1959) is an American film and television actress. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business. Her other notable film roles include Sara in Runaway Train in 1985, Thelma in The Trip to Bountiful, Helen McCaffrey in the thriller Backdraft in 1991 and her portrayal of the chillingly twisted nanny Peyton Flanders in the popular 1992 thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Personal life[edit source | editbeta] She was born Rebecca Jane Pearch on August 29, 1959, in Santa Rosa, California. Her father was Wally George (née Pearch), a disc jockey at the time. When she was two, her parents divorced and, at the age of five, she became known by her stepfather's surname, De Mornay. She has two step-brothers: Jonathan, a businessman, and Peter, a guitarist. She attended the independent Summerhill School in Leiston, Suffolk, England, but her high-school degree was awarded in St. Johann, near Kitzbühel,Austria.[clarification needed] She trained as an actress in New York at the Lee Strasberg Institute. DeMornay was engaged to singer Leonard Cohen.She married writer Bruce Wagner on December 16, 1986, but they divorced in 1990. Her second marriage was to Ryan O'Neal's son, sportscaster Patrick O'Neal, from 1995 to 2002; the union produced two daughters: Sophia (born November 16, 1997) and Veronica (born March 31, 2001). Career[edit source | editbeta] Her film debut was a small part in Francis Ford Coppola's 1982 film One from the Heart. Soon thereafter came her star-making role as a call girl who seduces a high-school student played by Tom Cruise in Risky Business. In 1985, she appeared with Starship's Mickey Thomas in the music video for the song "Sara". The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on March 15, 1986. One of De Mornay's most commercially successful films came in the thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. She also appeared in a 1988 remake of Roger Vadim's provocative And God Created Woman, Ron Howard's Backdraft (1991) and in 1993, starred as a defense lawyer in Sidney Lumet's murder drama Guilty as Sin. Then she appeared in the 1995 drama film Never Talk to Strangers opposite Antonio Banderas; in which she was also the executive producer. In 2003, she guest-starred as primary antagonist in the first two episodes of season 2 of Boomtown. In 2004, she guest-starred as attorney Hannah Rose for the last few episodes of The Practice and the following year, had a brief role alongside Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers. De Mornay also starred in the 2007 drama American Venus. In June 2007, she appeared in the HBO series John From Cincinnati with a starring role as matriarch of a troubled Imperial Beach, California surfing family and the grandmother/guardian of a teen surfer on the brink of greatness. She appeared in Darren Lynn Bousman's Mother's Day (2010). In 2012, De Mornay played the role of Finch's mom in the movie American Reunion where she portrayed an attractive older woman and a love interest of Stifler. Cultural references[edit source | editbeta] The name "Rebecca De Mornay" is used for a character (played by African-American actress Sonya Eddy) in two episodes of Seinfeld: "The Muffin Tops" and "The Bookstore". Rebecca De Mornay has also been referenced in an episode of The Ricky Gervais Show co-starring with "Clive Warren" [sic] (Clive Owen) as part of a movie pitch by Karl Pilkington. Filmography and credits[edit source | editbeta] Category:1959 births